beat final draft

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detox charlamagne DRAKE A$AP kendrick lamar + ab-soul SKEPTA the heart of hip hop @BEATMAGAZINE “Don’t make any comparisons, I’m better than them all!” Beat Magazine Awards 2012: Nominations Announced! SAF-ONE millz done did HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEAT! it again!

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Page 1: Beat Final Draft

detoxcharlamagne

DRAKE

A$APkendrick

lamar

+ab-soulSKEPTA

the heart of hip hop

@BEATMAGAZINE

“Don’t make any comparisons, I’m better than them all!”

Beat Magazine Awards 2012: Nominations Announced!SAF-ONE

millz done did

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEAT!

it again!

Page 2: Beat Final Draft

Contents December 2012

2 326

32

Subscribe Now!And receive 30% off

our next 5 issues!

Visit beatmagazine.com for more details. Offer ends 31st January 2013. International

delivery charges may apply.

4064

detoxcharlamagne

DRAKE

A$APkendrick

lamar

+ab-soulSKEPTA

the heart of hip hop

@BEATMAGAZINE

“Don’t make any

comparisons, I’m

better than them all!”

Beat Magazine Awards 2012: Nominations Announced!SAF-ONE

millz done did

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEAT!

it again!

Features News

Regulars

22 Tribute to a LegendWe profile the career of Kano, one of the OG’s of Grime and quite possibly the UK’s greatest MC.

26 Millz Done Did It AgainWe talk to one of the Uk’s hottest MC’s, Millz, on the success of his second LP.

32 Saf-One We bring you an exclusive in-terview with London’s next big MC, on his come up, his in-fluences and his opinion on the album of the year.

45 Back Of The NetWe talk to Liverpool and England starlet Raheem Sterling about hip-hop, foot-ball, gaming and who he’d pick in a fight between Suarez and Chipmunk.

52 And the Wait ContinuesAs we now enter the fourteenth year since the release of Dr. Dre’s last album, 2001, we ask; when will Detox drop?

64 Backpack Back?With the rise of the Brooklyn group Pro Era, led by Joey Bada$$. we take a look at the return of backpack raps.

72 The Block is HotWith hip-hop music in the UK at an all-time high, how have London’s estates and blocks helped inspire the revolution?

5 Beat Awards 2012We announce the nominations for the 2012 Beat Magazine Awards.

11 50 CentWe get the latest from the G-Unit camp on the announcement of the release date for ‘Street King Immortal’, Fifty’s latest alvum.

14 Suit And TieJustin Timberlake announces the re-lease of his album, ‘The 20/20 Experi-ence’, and releases a single with Jay-Z.

78 Boy Better KnowJME announces the dates for the grime supergroup’s upcoming tour on Twitter.

4 A word from our Editor

8 Hot Or Not?

21 Fashion Corner

40 Tweets of the Month

42 Video of the Month

66 A Day In My LifeThis month we follow Black Hippy rapper Ab-Soul, and witness just how

much dope he really smokes!

96 Upcoming Performances

102 Index

Page 3: Beat Final Draft

There have been a lot of good albums this year. Life Is Good by Nas was definitely a great album. I also re-ally liked Rick Ross’ album [God Forgives, I Dont]. But i think I’d have to say good kid, m.A.A.d city by Kend-rick Lamar. All the different flows he includes in his raps is just amazing. It really is a classic for our generation.

saf-one speaks

album of the yearThat’s a very tough question. In the last 2-3 years there has been an outburst of UK talent, it’s very hard to pick one in particular. I’ve been bumping a lot of K-Koke this year, and I’d definitely put him up there. I think if I had to choose one above all the others, it would have to be Wretch 32. But shout out to Lowkey too!

best mc in britainPac. No question. I mean I love Biggie, and I’d definitely put him in my top 5 all time, but Pac is just on another level for me. He’s definitely been an inspiration to my music for a number of years, and one of my favourites for a number of years.

tupac or biggie?32 33

Page 4: Beat Final Draft

could be successful.

write tracks which stayed real but

on cars and girls, so it was hard

and i wasn’t exactly splashing the

really been a part of the gang cul-

it seemed hard at first, i mean i’d nev-

saf-onethe future of hip hop

In the world of hip-hop, where the UK has almost always played second fiddle to the US, we’ve never managed to come up with a rap phenomenon of our own. Sure, we’ve come close with Dizzee Rascal and S.A.S, and MC’s like Tinie Tempah, Chipmunk and K-Koke might be flying the flag now, but British emcees still haven’t

managed to blow across the pond the same way as over British music exports from other genres (One Direction and Coldplay to name a few). But it seems like the chart-topping album ‘Story of My Life’, with the hit singles ‘Street Knowl-edge’ and ‘Ghetto University’, may have established 21 year old Safwan Khamouch, more commonly known as Saf-One, as not just one of the highly regarded emcees in Britain right now, but one of the best lyricists out right now. In an exclu-sive interview at the set of his latest music video ‘Recog-nise’, I managed to talk to Saf-One about the journey he has taken to get to the point he’s at right now, and what he has in store for the future.

Abdi: So finally, the man of the moment, UK’s Kendrick Lamar, and you’re here to talk to Beat Magazine about your rise to the top.Saf-One: It’s blessed man, I’m doing this for my fans who’ve supported me from my mixtapes and cyphers.A: That’s good. So take us the beginning, you dropped your first mixtape at 17 but say you’ve been rapping since you were 15?S: Yea man, I’ve always been a hip-hop head since I was young, all my friends knew me as that hip-hop guy. And, to be honest, it wasn’t till high school that I started rapping, for fun obviously. And all my friends told me that my bars were hot, so it just escalated from there. The first studio I went to was actually on the estate right next to my school. A few guys from the year above went there regularly, and they gave me the chance to have a session one day after school, and that was when I realised this was what I wanted to do.

34 35

Page 5: Beat Final Draft

A: So you started spitting for fun, but what helped you make that transition to the next step?S: Well, I’d gone to the studio a few times, when I got a link to a producer in Stonebridge, Carl Johnson, who’d worked with a number of different artists in London. He told me he’d seen some of the videos I’d put up on YouTube and said he wanted to help me put out my first mixtape.A: That must have been exciting?S: It was mad man, my first mixtape! I remember spending hours on end in the studio just writing bars upon bars. And I also spent a lot of time watch Carl and a few of the others making the beats and producing the tracks, I really wanted to learn everything about the process so that I could do it myself one day.A: So you worked on the tape, and when it finally dropped it was a mas-sive success.S: I really couldn’t believe it man, [Street Economics] did much better than I thought it would, especially cause I was taking such a risk bring-ing out some lyrically conscious shit when the game in London was all about repping your ends or shotting. Let me tell you, I was on the bus to college one day, and 5 guys came up to my deck, all hooded up, and I swear I was so surprised when I could hear Mathematics muffling out of one of their headphones. I’m glad they didn’t

recognise me though, it was tough at first handling the ‘fame’.A: I’ll tell you man, when you dropped Street Econ, it was like a breath of fresh air to the game, and a lot of us here at Beat were really liking it.S: Well I appreciate it man, I mean it’s great when others not only enjoy the music that I’m listening to, but really understand the message I’m trying to give out, especially the youngers man.A: So you were setting the mixtape game on fire for a few years, when did you begin working on SOML?S: It was around the summer of 2011, I was talking to my manager about some upcoming tour dates when he said that we’ve got enough buzz now to start on a debut album. It was scary at first, I mean I didn’t think I was ready to start selling records yet, but Tony [Vercetti, Saf-One’s manager] helped me out a lot and my team were all behind me too which was cool, shout outs to all of them!A: That’s cool. So we’re did you find the inspiration for what some are call-ing the best debut album in a decade?S: It seemed hard at first, I mean I’d

never really been a part of the gang culture and I wasn’t exactly splashing the cash on cars and girls, so it was hard to write tracks which stayed real but yet could be successful. But I just took inspiration from Street Econ, and also a lot of the current affairs going on around the world to help me come up with the content for my LP. I also took a lot of inspiration from some of my favourite rappers, Nas, Pac, Dre. But I also listened to a lot of the UK music that I grew up with which helped give me some inspiration to write about shit which was going on around me, you know.A: So you would consider yourself a conscious rapper?S: Oh yea, for sure. I mean, when it comes to the time when I put my mic down and end it, I want to be remembered as someone who had something important to say. And it also keeps my music relevant, as I’m always on top of what’s going on and what’s important.A: Surely it must have been a bit scary, especially seeing as you dropped it on an indie label.

S: Well I just saw that as an opportu-nity to express myself properly to a mainstream stage. I wanted to make sure that my first album was a true expression of what I am as a rapper. I didn’t want any label or A&R hold-ing me back and changing my image, and I feel that I have done that in this album.A: So SOML dropped a few months ago, and charted at #1 on the iTunes list, how did you feel at first? Cause I mean, you’d know become massive on an international level?S: I mean it was crazy, bruv. It was hard at first getting to grips with peo-ple from your school listening to your songs, but having that recognition around the world is crazy! I mean I saw a picture of me on a Moroccan news station the other day, I mean that’s some crazy shit! But I enjoyed it, you know, I mean I was getting front row seats at all the big music awards, free clothes from my favourite labels, even tickets to go see Chelsea at the FA Cup Final! Big up Drogba! I mean, it was just fun really.

A: It sounds like you were having a good time. But a lot of reports coming out at the time sug-gested that you were let-ting it all get to your head, especially on that Radio 1Xtra inter-view in Sep-tember, why don’t you talk us through your motives?S: Well, I was just clown-ing around, you know. I didn’t really think my com-ments would get taken too seriously. But there was some intent in there. I mean, I’ve always

been a grounded guy, but you’ve got to have some confidence in yourself, otherwise you’ll just fall off. I mean, it’s flattering when I’m compared to some of the greats, but I got to tell them, don’t make any comparisons because I’m better than them all. And that isn’t even me trying to be bigheaded, but I’ve got to have some confidence about my abilities, other-wise who will?A: So you believe that you have man-aged to stay grounded throughout this?S: I would like to think so, yes. I mean I love to do what I do, and the opportu-nity to do it is a massive blessing, and I have to be thankful to those who sup-ported me and rode for me through-out.A: That’s blessed to here. It has also been reported that you recently visit-ed your old school and funding a new scheme for their music department.S: Well it was the least I could do. I know for a fact that for every rapper like me coming out in London there is about 20 others at school and on the

streets trying to make it, I just wanted to give them that platform to grow.A: That’s true. So know you’ve basked in your glory, when are you going to come back with them hard bars for us?S: Well I’m going on tour in the New Year and I’ll be putting up some more dates which are yet to be announced on my Twitter. I’ve also got some more projects coming up soon which I’ll have to keep classified for now.A: What’s it like touring the country, having started out doing performanc-es at small clubs and raves?S: It’s just a humbling feeling, you know. I never ever thought I’d go on and make it this big! To break that glass ceiling and be able to go out and perform in the biggest arenas in the UK is mad!A: Do you have any plans to one day be able to tour abroad?S: Oh for sure, you gotta aim big. I mean it would be wonderful to tour Europe and overseas. I mean the States, Australia, Japan? That would be incredible.A: If you had one dream venue to per-form at, where would it be?S: Wembley Stadium and Madison Square Gardens. I chose MSG for ob-vious reasons. I mean, it’s the great-est arena in the world. All the amaz-ing sporting and musical moments which have occurred in that place is just magical. And I chose Wembley Stadium because it’s such a massive stadium, and obviously growing up a few miles from it and seeing it all the time just fuelled my dream to perform there in front of thousands of people.A: And what about your next album, when are we going to hear some of your new work?S: Ah you guys are so impatient! Nah, hopefully I’ll start work on a new al-bum sometime in the autumn of 2013, but watch out for some mixtapes and singles I’ll be releasing in the mean-time.A: Have you thought of a concept for this album? As we all know some of your best work has come from a con-cept, an idea.S: Well let’s just see what happens in the next year or so, and I’ll probably use some of those experiences for in-spiration.

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Page 6: Beat Final Draft

name: safwan khamouch

age: 21

born: south london

influences:

jay-z, nas, tupac, wiley

favourite rapper: tupac

worst rapper: soulja boy

favourite song:

old school - tupac

favourite album:

illmatic - nas

favourite group:

wu tang clan

profile

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